NEWS & EVENTS

Dordt College News

Dordt Basketball At Briar Cliff Saturday

GAMETIME… Dordt College will travel to Briar Cliff on Saturday, January 26 in Great Plains Athletic Conference basketball. The women’s contest starts at 2:00 and the men will get underway at 4:00. The games will be broadcast on KDCR 88.5 FM and at kdcr.dordt.edu. Results will be available at https://twitter.com/dcathletics and at www.dordt.edu/athletics when complete

SCOUTING REPORT… The Briar Cliff women are 9-4 in the league and 18-5 overall with losses in the league coming to Dordt (91-74), Concordia (72-65), Morningside (77-71) and Northwestern (87-75). The lone non-conference loss is a decision at Jamestown by an 84-76 margin. Briar Cliff has scored 80 or more times 14 times and have held opponents to less than 80 on 20 occasions.

Mike Powers’ team is 8-5 since starting the season with ten wins in a row and are 3-2 in its last five games. The Chargers average 81.9 points per game and give up 69.1 points per outing while forcing 630 turnovers through 23 games. The Chargers convert 44.3 percent of their field goals and make 39.9 percent. Opponents hold a 41.7-37.2 rebounding edge. Briar Cliff has put up 500 three-point shots and make 33.8 percent of the shots they take from behind the three-point line.

Kelsey Evans is good for 15.1 points per game and has 41 steals and 4.0 rebounds per outing. Mattie Murren and Sara Reeves score 12.2 and 12.1 points per game and Kela Cihak is good for 10.0 points per game. Summer Gordon contributes 10.0 points and 4.7 rebounds and Slone Masters tops the team with 5.6 rebounds and she is scoring 6.2 points per game. Murren and Cihak have 44 and 46 steals respectively and Cihak has a team high 78 assists.

The Briar Cliff men are 7-6 in the league and 16-7 overall. Briar Cliff had won six games in a row from December 28 to January 16 but have lost a pair in their last two games to Hastings (82-74) and Northwestern (88-77). This is the first time this season Briar Cliff has lost two games in a row.

Nic Nelson’s team is scoring 78.3 points per game and they allow 72.5 points per outing and convert 43.6 percent of their field goals. Opponents are making 44.3 percent of their field goals and the Chargers have relied heavily on the three-point shot where they have made 207-571 attempts for 36.3 percent success. Briar Cliff 571 three-point attempts account for 41 percent of their total field goal attempts. The Chargers have a 39.2-35.7 rebounding advantage.

Jake Shipley scores 17.3 points per game and takes down 5.6 rebounds per game. Taylor Murren is averaging 13.3 points per game and has 46 assists. Turner Fahey is scoring just under double digits at 9.9 points per game and he has a team high 70 assists. Zach Otting scores 9.0 points per game and Clay Harreld is scoring 8.2 points per game. John Engler and Michael Collison average 5.4 and 5.6 rebounds per game. Murren leads the team with 62 made three-pointers this season.

DEFENDER NOTES… The Defender women are 7-7 in the GPAC and 13-11 overall and have won four of their last six games. The Defenders are coming off a loss and have lost two games in a row just one time with that string coming to start the season. The Defenders are in 7th place in the GPAC, a half game out of 6th and two games out of 5th.

The Defender women have set a single season record with 145 made three-point baskets and convert 34.9 percent of those tries while outrebounding teams 37.3-36.1. The Defenders have outscored teams 69.4-62.9 and limit opponents to 38.8 percent field goal shooting.

Kara Van Dyke has 322 points this season for a 13.4 points per game average and she takes in a team high 7.5 rebounds per game and makes 49.8 percent of her field goal tries. Kayla Broekhuis scores 12.1 points per game and has 37 steals in 19 games played and she leads the team with 46 made three-pointers. Brianna Spronk completes the double digit scorers with an 11.0 average and she is good for five rebounds and leads the team with 53 assist and 48 steals. Elise Maresh converts 9.8 points per game and takes down 5.5 rebounds. Jasmin Schelhaas and Danelle Boone average 7.3 and 6.2 points per game and Boone has made 50 percent of her three-point tries while going 33-66.

The Defender men are 18-5 this season and 10-4 in league play with six games remaining and are a game back of the leader in the GPAC standings. The Defenders’ losses in the league are to Doane (86-70), Midland (97-89), Nebraska Wesleyan (71-69 ot) and Mount Marty (77-60). Dordt has won two games in row since the Mount Marty setback and are 9-2 since December 12.

The Defenders are making 50.1 percent of the shots they take from the field and limit teams to 42.1 percent shooting while outrebounding foes 39.7-30.4. Seven different Defenders have led the team in scoring in games this year. The Defenders have gotten to the free throw line 539 times and are making 67.3 percent of those shots and they make 39.5 percent of the three-point attempts they take (171-433). One-third of Dordt’s field goals have been three-point shots.

Cliff Warner leads the team with a 15.3 points per game average to go with 87 assists and 29 steals—both tops on the team. Warner also has 2.9 rebounds per game and he is making 47.3 percent of his three-point shots and has converted 87 long shots this year. Trevor Wolterstorff adds 14.1 points per game and is making 58.2 percent of his field goal attempts and leads the team with a 6.8 rebounds per game average. Jordan Vogel contributes 12.0 points per game and he is making 63.3 percent of his field goals. Austin Katje and Chris Sievers score 9.8 and 9.5 points each. Kyle Lindbergh is converting 6.7 points per game while taking in 6.0 rebounds and Shawn Keizer is at 5.0 points and 3.9 rebounds.

NEXT… Briar Cliff will host Doane on Wednesday, January 30 while the Defenders are on the road to Northwestern that same night.

LAST TIME… The Briar Cliff women lost to Northwestern on Wednesday night by an 87-75 decision in Orange City. Briar Cliff led 37-32 at halftime only to surrender 55 second half points. Kelsey Evans scored 22 in the loss and Slone Masters came off the bench to score 15 with five rebounds. The Chargers forced 23 turnovers and made 25-74 field goals but got outrebounded 50-30.

The Briar Cliff men were down 49-37 at halftime and never made a serious run at Northwestern in falling 88-77. Taylor Murren and Jake Shipley had 19 points each and got outrebounded 33-32. Zach Otting scored 11 in a reserve rol for Briar Cliff. The Chargers also made 21-58 field goals and there were 72 free throws shot between the two teams with Briar Cliff making 26-37 and Northwestern 30-35.

The Dordt women were down from the start against Morningside and lost 91-42 after trailing 41-22. Kara Van Dyke scored 14 and had four rebounds. Dordt was forced into 31 turnovers and got outrebounded 35-34. The Defenders converted 17-52 shots while Morningside was 33-65 overall and 14-24 on three-point baskets.

The Dordt men led almost start to finish and beat Morningside on Wednesday by an 89-68 margin. Dordt was 32-55 from the floor and had a 37-32 rebounding edge. Austin Katje converted 8-9 field goals for 20 points and Cliff Warner added 14 with six assists and two steals. Trevor Wolterstorff and Jordan Vogel added 11 and 10 while Shawn Keizer and Chris Sievers came off the bench to score nine a piece.

SERIES… The Defender women trail the series with Briar Cliff 40-37 dating back to 1975. Dordt won the first meeting of the teams this season on December 15 by a 91-74 margin. Dordt was 30-52 from the floor and got 19 points from Kara Van Dyke with six rebounds and three assists. Elise Maresh scored 16 and had six assists while Danelle Boone had 15 points. Briar Cliff’s Kelsey Evans had 20 points and five rebounds in the loss.

The Dordt men trail the series with Briar Cliff 56-31 and that meetings of these two date back to 1967. Dordt led 43-30 at halftime in the December 15 meeting and got 15 points each from Cliff Warner, Trevor Wolterstorff and Jordan Vogel. Kyle Lindbergh and Chris Sievers came off the bench to score eight. Briar Cliff’s top scorer was Turner Fahey with nine and Clay Harreld and Jake Shipley had eight points each.